The Shifting Seasons
by Drakon Hunter
Summary: A grave on a hill, an anniversary of more sorrowful things. A team long since broken, meeting over the last rose of summer. A rose long since dead. A short complete Oneshot, something I decided to share.


Thus kindly I scatter.

Ruby looked at those words with a small, sad smile. She knelt down and brushed her hand across the letters with fondness.

"Hey, mom. Sorry that it's been a while since we've talked, I should've visited sooner."

The only answer was wind fluttering across the grass near her grave.

"Things are, well um, they could be better really. I got to go to Beacon early! I had a fantastic team, they're awesome. I, I really should bring them to meet you sometime..."

The stone of the grave started to get sprinkled with tears, no words of comfort being shared from parent to child. Ruby flip the hood of her cloak up, holding it close around her.

It brought back near-forgotten memories of a mother's embrace. Of warm laughter and shining smiles.

"I messed up mom. They've all left, and Yang, she-" A soft sob broke free from her mouth. There was a soft crunch from the ground behind her.

"I thought we already talked about this Ruby," A voice said as an arm slowly wrapped around her. Taiyang gave a soft sigh as he held her. "You did what you could. Your very best."

She seemed to sob harder. "It wasn't enough though, was it?"

A calloused hand pulled back her hood. Fingers ran through her hair like they had so many times before when he had to comfort her. "A hunter's life is hard kiddo, I'm sorry to say. There are times when it feels like nothing you can do is enough. That nothing you did was enough."

He gave her a slightly bitter smile. "Your team's still got a chance, still has room to grow and heal. Take it from me, that's something big."

He felt her give a shaky nod against his chest. His smile grew less bitter in response. "That's my girl," He whispered planting a kiss against the back of her head. "Go on back to the house and get some rest. I need to have a little talk with your mother."

He felt the barest kiss against his cheek before a swarm of rose petals flew past him. The smile slowly left his face. "Yeah… She's her mom's kid alright."

He glanced down at the grave expression unreadable. "You always had a taste for the dramatic, You know? Even to your death. I mean come on, disappearing the day that summer turned into fall?"

He gave out a bitter laugh, to be answered to a pair of caws. He glanced up to see a pair of birds flying to the ground. "Disappearing this very day, so many years ago" He whispered out. The two birds paused on the ground, glaring at each other when they shifted back into human shapes.

The blond of the group held a hand up between them. "Please, not here, not today. Please." He really was tired of their fighting.

Qrow glanced between him and Raven, muscles taut before he looked down at the stone. "Yeah, yeah you're right," he murmured out, relaxing. He took a small sip from his flask, before capping it and holding it in a loose grip.

Emblazoned on it was a remnant of better times. A simple diamond with four letters written in it. STRQ, he mused. A good name really, there were so many memories held there.

Raven grasped her blade hesitantly, still in its sheath. They didn't meet up here every year, but it did happen now and then, with some if not all them there.

She found a spark of grim amusement in thinking that all of her team was together again.

Raven let her hand loosen from the hilt of her weapon, not really concerned any longer. It was a time of no worries back then, she glanced up at Taiyang with some amount of sorrow.

Being a Branwen wasn't something she took a lot of pride in at the best of times. More to reign her clan in, to control when they attacked than anything else. Honestly? She stayed with her clan out of fear of what could have happened to her daughter.

She grimaced at the thought of Yang. Maybe it was time to approach her with an offer? A coldness crept into her heart at that thought. Yang was going to push her away, that much she knew.

And in some ways, she felt that she deserved it.

It was rare that she let her emotions show like this, that she let her mask fall. Raven looked down at the grave with thought, before reaffirming her choice. Yang would be better, safer, away from her. She would ensure that happened.

They stood around the grave in companionable silence. Taiyang slowly knelt down to place a single rose, even as Qrow and Raven placed down a single feather each beneath it.

Taiyang gave a smile again. "Well, maybe you rubbed off on me Sum. With those dramatics of yours, I mean." After all, that was the last living rose in his garden for the year.

The last rose of summer.

And with that, the two Branwen siblings flew off after a respectful nod. He paused, glancing over those lines on the grave once more, mouth opened in hesitation. His expression became more resolute before he began to speak.

"'Tis the last rose of summer,

Left blooming alone;

All her lovely companions

Are faded and gone;

No flower of her kindred,

No rosebud is nigh,

To reflect back her blushes,

And give sigh for sigh.

I'll not leave thee, thou lone one.

To pine on the stem;

Since the lovely are sleeping,

Go, sleep thou with them.

Thus kindly I scatter,

Thy leaves o'er the bed,

Where thy mates of the garden

Lie scentless and dead.

So soon may I follow,

When friendships decay,

And from Love's shining circle

The gems drop away.

When true hearts lie withered,

And fond ones are flown,

Oh, who would inhabit

This bleak world alone?"

If the gravestone was again wetted by tears, well, there was no one to say anything about it was there? Wind once again brushed through the area, ruffling his hair almost playfully.

His smile had fled, heart feeling tired and old. He pushed up from the ground with a heave. He looked down at the grave one last time for the day, to say one last thing.

"Thank you for being there for me. Thank you for Ruby, for making my life amazing," He took a deep breath, before slumping slightly. "I still miss you, Summer. Still love you."

And so Taiyang turned around and walked to his home. The trees had yet to change, yet he knew that it didn't matter that much appearance-wise.

After all, to most this day looked just like any other. When Summer turned to Fall. When Summer fell. He found his hands sliding into his pockets, suddenly shivering.

Yeah, it was definitely time to go home.

He didn't want to be alone, today of all days.

* * *

**AN: **Hey there, I hope you enjoyed. Please tell me what you think, even as a guest reviewer I'd appreciate it. Thanks for reading, and maybe you'll see more coming up.

Also an obligatory, "I don't own this," is in order I believe. So there you go


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